New Jersey Bike & Walk Summit

Join Bike & Walk Morristown’s at the New Jersey Bike & Walk Summit in New Brunswick on Saturday, February 21. We will be getting together a carpool to get there, so def let us know if you want in! Will update with details on when we are heading down, but the summit starts at 8am.

This event is always motivational and a great time to meet other advocates from around New Jersey. Also this year, Bike Walk Town is presentations: Couch to Breve Fondo coach Joy Selnick will be joining a panel on women and cycling and Kendra Arnold will be talking about what it is like to get around suburban New Jersey without a car. 

Buy your ticket at eventbrite.

Here’s the details on the summit:

The 6th annual New Jersey Bike & Walk Summit will be held on Saturday, February 21, 2015 in New Brunswick, NJ. This event is in collaboration with the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

NJBWC is pleased to announce this year’s plenary speaker, US Congressman Albio Sires. Representative Sires hails from the 8th congressional district in New Jersey, and represents the state’s most densely populated areas. His district includes Elizabeth, Hoboken, West New York, Guttenberg, Weehawken, East Newark, Harrison, Bayonne, Kearny, North Bergen, Belleville, Fairview and parts of Newark.

Other featured speakers include Barbara McCann, Director of the Office of Safety, Energy, and Environment at the US Department of Transportation, Jon Orcutt, Former Policy Director of the NYC DOT, and Susi Wunsch, a  Contributor to Bicycling and Momentum magazines and founder of the group VeloJoy.

As a participant in the NJBWC Summit, you have the opportunity to learn more about current state and federal legal and policy issues affecting your community, become aware of various public funding sources, network, and identify and develop mutually beneficial relationships that can help your community become more bike and pedestrian friendly and therefore, more livable.

Join us on February 21st for an engaging, enlightening, and enjoyable day! Registration for the 2015 New Jersey Bike & Walk Summit is now open.  To visit our registration page, click here.

SPEAKER BIOS

Rep. Albio Sires

Born in the Cuban town of Bejucal, Rep. Albio Sires grew up in the waning years of pre-Communist Cuba. His family fled in January 1962 with the help of relatives in America. Congressman Sires became a star basketball player at Memorial High School and received a four-year basketball scholarship from St. Peter’s College. He went on to receive a Masters Degree from Middlebury College in Vermont.

Congressman Sires was a teacher and business owner before entering public service. He proudly served as Mayor of West New York, New Jersey from 1995 to 2006. During that time, the Congressman created more affordable housing units than any municipality in the State of New Jersey by fostering public-private partnerships and the use of targeted tax incentives. Congressman Sires also served in the New Jersey State Assembly, where he served two terms as Speaker of the Assembly. His efforts were recognized by many, including the New Jersey State Bar Association and Legal Services and his fellow Mayors who named him, “Mayor of the Year” in 2004.

Today, Congressman Sires serves on two Committees: Foreign Affairs and Transportation and Infrastructure. The Congressman serves on two Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittees: the Highways and Transit Subcommittee as well as the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee. He is actively involved in reauthorizing the Surface Transportation bill, supporting increased transit and commuting options, safer streets, and more efficient goods movement.  This past year, he introduced the New Opportunities for Bicycle and Pedestrian Infrastructure Financing Act of 2014, bipartisan legislation to allow communities to take advantage of low-cost financing for projects that make our streets and sidewalks safer for all users.

Barbara McCann

Barbara McCann

Barbara McCann serves as Director of the Office of Safety, Energy, and Environment in the Policy Office of the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation.  Among other responsibilities, she is directing the Department-wide pedestrian and bicycle safety initiative. Prior to joining DOT in January 2014, McCann served as the founding Executive Director of the National Complete Streets Coalition, working with groups from AARP to the YMCA to develop and advance the adoption of policies to make streets safe for all users.  More than half the states and more than 600 local governments now have Complete Streets Policies.  In 2013 Island Press published her book, Completing Our Streets: The Transition to Safe and Inclusive Transportation Networks.

Jon Orcutt

Jon Orcutt is an adjunct Professor of Public Administration at New York University and former Director of Policy for the New York City Department of Transportation, receiving that appointment from city transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan in June 2007.  He led the development of the agency’s strategic plan and worked with the commissioner on a broad set of New York City transportation initiatives and issues.

Jon Orcutt

Jon has contributed to transportation policy in New York and the broader metropolitan area for twenty years, starting as Executive Director of the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives in 1989, where he oversaw significant growth in that organization’s size and influence.  Jon joined the staff of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign in 1994 and helped put the new organization on the map by launching its prize-winning news and opinion bulletin, “Mobilizing the Region.”  Jon became the Campaign’s executive director in 2003.  In New York State, he helped create new pedestrian safety funding programs and limit highway expansion, and participated in the incorporation of land use planning into the project development process at New Jersey DOT.

Over the past 25 years, Jon’s efforts have been widely credited as a catalyst for a multi-modal transportation shift at city and state transportation agencies across the tri-state region, and in New York City in particular.

Susi Wunsch

Susi Wunsch rides her own bicycle, as well as Citi Bike share, for daily transportation in New York City, and is an avid road cyclist on weekends. In 2010, she founded velojoy.com, a New York City-based website focused on city cycling style and lifestyle.

Susi Wunsch

A passionate advocate for engaging more women in cycling, Wunsch serves on the board of directors of Transportation Alternatives in New York City, on the advisory committee of the national Women Bike program of the League of American Bicyclists and is a member of the Outdoor Industries Women’s Coalition.

As a writer, Wunsch has contributed to Bicycling Magazine, Momentum Magazine and the fashion website Refinery29.com.